# A Grandparents' Day gift from the grandchildren: their questions, your answers

Grandparents' Day is small and easy to miss, which makes it the right day for a gift that does not need a party. The idea is simple: the grandchildren ask, the grandparent answers, and the answers become a book with the grandchildren's names in the front.

## What you give

A thirty-second message from you to open it, and then the good part: a question from each grandchild, recorded in their own voices, which the interviewer carries into the visits.

Short visits by voice, fifteen minutes or so, led by what the grandparent enjoys. The funny stories tend to come first on this occasion, and that is a good way to start.

A book that grows as the questions are answered. The grandchildren can read each chapter and send the next question. When it is done, every grandchild gets a copy.

## How to give it

1. Buy it once. One payment; the grandparent owns every recording.
2. Record your message, then sit each grandchild down for one question each. A six-year-old asking "did you have a dog" is exactly right. For example: "Grandma, the kids have been asking me things about you I can't answer, so we've decided you should answer them yourself. Here they are."
3. Give it on the day, with the grandchildren present if you can. Play their questions out loud.
4. Keep the questions coming. Once a week, one grandchild records one more question. The book follows the grandchildren's curiosity, which is the best interviewer there is.

## Questions to start with

See also: Funny questions to ask your grandparents (/questions/grandparents-funny)

- What is the naughtiest thing you did at school, and were you caught?
- Did you have a pet, and what was the worst thing it ever did?
- What did you eat that children today would refuse?
- What did you want for Christmas when you were my age, and did you get it?
- What was Grandad like when you first met him, honestly?
- What is the funniest thing my mum or dad did as a child?
- What game did you play in the street that nobody plays now?
- What is the silliest thing you ever bought?

## If they are hesitant

Grandparents rarely refuse the grandchildren, but they do sometimes refuse the idea of a book about themselves. Make it about the children: "they want to know, and you are the only one who does". Keep the first visit to the funny questions. If it is still a no, the recorded questions from the grandchildren are a lovely thing on their own, and nothing is lost.

Related: A book of your grandparents' stories (/for/grandparents); How to write someone's life story (/write/life-story).

Tellforth: Your story, told in full, in your own voice, for the people who come after.